Prevalence of Stunting and Thinness Among Bengali Children and Adolescent Boys of Agartala, Tripura, India

Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences,2015,5,1,1210-1213.
Published:February 2015
Type:Research Article
Authors:
Author(s) affiliations:

Sandeep Roy Sarkar, Samir Kumar Sil*

Department of Human Physiology, Tripura University, Tripura, India.

Abstract:

This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of stunting and thinness using height and weight based indicators among Bengali children and adolescent school boys of Agartala, aged between 8 to 16 years. This cross-sectional study was carried out in the rural areas of Agartala through school visits. Subjects were selected using a multistage cluster sampling method. Height and weight were measured using standard procedures and body mass index (BMI) was also computed. rd Height-for-age below 3 percentile value of WHO reference and Indian reference was classified as stunting. BMI-for-age below 5th percentile value of WHO reference was classified as thinness. Atotal of 208 boys participated in this study. Prevalence of stunting was 20% relative to WHO reference, which reduced to almost 10% while using Indian reference data. Prevalence of thinness was 42%. Bengali boys of Agartala were showing high prevalence of stunting but lower thinness values than that of Bengali boys of Kolkata. This study reveals a moderate prevalence of stunting and high prevalence of thinness among our study boys. Poor socio-economic status seems to contribute to this moderate to high prevalence of undernutrition.

Prevalence of stunting (height-for-age) among Bengali boys of Agartala.